Unrequited
by teroinreadsteroinwrites
Summary: This I don't think is going to translate the way I hope it does. "You don't know what it feels like to love someone who doesn't love you!" It was almost a step forward. He admitted that she didn't love him. He didn't try disguise it as her being blinded or tricked. She just didn't love him. "Yeah, Georgi, I do," I said.


So I don't own Yuri on ice or any of it's characters. All copyrights and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

I don't think that this translated as well from idea to text, but I'm hoping in conveys what I'm trying to convey.

* * *

"Absolutely brilliant," someone said.

I scoffed. Brilliant. Brilliant was being able to convey emotion. Georgi had simply lost control of his. Bawling on the ice wasn't brilliant. Screaming wasn't brilliant. It was pain and if you knew Georgi well enough, it was painful to watch. The skill, the technicality, the jumping ability. That was brilliance and that was something about Georgi that had for too long been ignored.

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind me.

I let out a small squeak of surprise, turning to face the man.

He was a reporter. ' _Shit,_ ' I thought. I was really hoping to not draw attention to myself, but apparently that was asking for too much.

"Are you Ms. Yekaterina Nabokov?" he asked.

"That's me," I said with a smile.

"It's an honor to meet you Ms. Nabokov. I'm Anthony Anderson from . Would it be possible to get a quick interview with you?"

"Of course," I said, taking off my sun glasses, and quickly running a hand through my hair.

The guy quickly turned to his camera man, giving him instructions, before taking his place beside me. The guy was British from the sound of his accent.

He handed me a microphone, while his cameraman took his place a few feet in front of us.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"When you are."

The camera man counted us in.

"Hello, everyone, Anthony Anderson here at the Cup of China for and with me is none other than two time Olympic rhythmic gymnastics gold medalist, Ms. Yekaterina Nabokov. Ms. Nabokov, how are you today?"

"I'm wonderful. I got to explore Beijing, and I've had the privilege of witnessing some fantastic skating. I really couldn't be much better."

"That's good to hear. So, Ms. Nabokov, what brings you to the Cup of China?" he asked.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm here to surprise my fellow countryman and friend, Georgi Popovich. We're both so busy training. I don't get to see him skate that much, so I try to take full advantage of it when I can. He has no clue that I'm here."

"That's so very nice of you. What did you think of his performances?"

"Oh Georgi is a magnificent skater, and he's honestly just a joy to watch. He's so passionate about skating, and you can see how that translates into intensity on the ice. We saw that over the course of this competition. Even though the result wasn't what he'd been hoping for, I know he's not going to let that get him down. Georgi has so much more to offer. I think people are really going to recognize him and his ability now more than ever."

"Now more than ever, obviously a reference to victor Nikiforov and his recent transition from skating to coaching."

I felt my eye twitch. If I had wanted to bring Victor into this, I would've said now that Victor's no longer competing. I wasn't here to talk about him. I was here to talk about Georgi. Victor was an unavoidable topic in the skating scene, and he was my friend. As much as I couldn't stand that people always over looked Georgi for him, I understood that it wasn't intentional. Victor just had that personality and that flair that made everyone focus on him.

"While obviously you two compete in different sports, with you competing in rhythmic gymnastics, you have achieved similar amounts of success in your careers, what is your opinion on Victor's choice."

"I have known Victor for a long while now. I consider him a friend. I believe that you should do what makes you happy. If coaching is the change that Victor feels he needs in order to be happy, then I am supportive of it. People seem to forget that he is 27 years old. He has had a long and successful skating career, longer than most. I'm sure he still has more in him, but he is at the age, where retiring from the sport is a reasonable option. Coaching could be his next chapter. He's done everything there is to do. He's earned the right to explore his options."

"I find it interesting that you brought up age. Many people are speculating that after winning your second Olympic gold in Rio earlier this year that at the age of 24 that you may be announcing your retirement soon."

"Are you calling me old?" I teased.

"No. No. Of course not."

"I know. I know. Everyone asks me about it. I don't feel like I'm anywhere near done. I know a lot of people are like I want to go out on top, but if I can still go, I'm going to. It's what I love to do, so until I either do so terribly that everyone tells me I should quit or I hate it, I'm still going to compete."

"Well, Ms. Nabokov, I'm going to let you go, but first do you have any last comments?"

I unzipped my jacket, revealing my team Russia jacket underneath. "A big good luck to all of the Russian skaters, competing this season!" I cheered.

Anthony chuckled. "Thank you Ms. Nabokov."

"Thank you," I said.

I zipped my jacket back up, slid my glasses into my bag and decided that now was the time to actually search for Georgi. I found him and Yakov just as they were leaving the press area.

He wasn't paying attention, so I walked over, falling into step beside him, while he said something to Yakov, who glared upon realizing that I was there.

Georgi turned to see he was staring at and nearly jumped out of his skin, seeing me there.

I laughed.

"Katya? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Why are you here?" Yakov asked, voice hard.

I rolled my eyes. "Can it old man. I'm not here to talk to you," I snipped. In case it wasn't obvious, I wasn't Yakov's biggest fan. He wasn't mine either. He and I had completely different opinions on basically everything, but especially when it came to Georgi.

He wanted Georgi to win. I wanted Georgi to win too, but I also wanted him to be happy.

"I came to see you," I said to Georgi, shooting him a smile. "I missed watching you skate."

Gerogi and I had been friends, since we were children. He was my best friend. I had known him longer than anyone else. We grew up together, shared secrets with each other. We were always together, until our careers pulled us apart.

When we were little I used to watch Georgi every day. We would go to school together, and then after I would go to practice. His rink time started later than mine in the gym. When I was done, I would immediately go to the rink afterwards and watched as he skated.

He was always good, better than all of those around him. The way that he glided around the ice and spun in the air, before landing on such a slim piece of metal. It was hypnotizing.

Gerogi, now that the start had worn off, gave me a small smile in return, before pulling me into a hug.

I returned his embrace, holding on tight. It had been too long, since I had seen Georgi. It felt like forever since I had hugged him. He felt and smelled like home.

"You didn't have to come the whole way out to China to watch me skate," he said.

I shrugged. "I figured I could visit Yueyue too."

"Didn't she retire?" Georgi asked.

I nodded. Since she retired I hadn't gotten to see much of Yueyue, so it had been nice to catch up with her.

"Are you flying out tonight or tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow morning," Yakov answered.

"Good. That means we can go to a late dinner."

"Georgi needs to-"

I ignored Yakov and kept talking. "Go back to the hotel, freshen up whatever. I'll text you where to go. See you there."

"Katya-" Yakov started.

"Don't call me Katya," I said my voice icy. "Don't even call me Yekaterina. Refer to me by my last name or not at all. Preferably not at all."

"Georgi needs to rest, he just competed."

"And he can after dinner," I argued.

I looked at Georgi, who stood there and said nothing. "Unless you don't want to go of course."

"It's fine Yakov."

I grinned. "Good. You go back to the hotel and freshen up or whatever. I'll text you where to go later. Leave the old bastard."

Georgi slid into the booth across from me, causing me to look up from the menu.

"You can't read Chinese," he said.

"Yueyue taught me the few things I like and how to order them, so ha," I said sticking out my tongue. "You should really try to get along with the others more. They can teach you a thing or two."

"We are competitors."

I rolled my eyes. "Even that little ball of hate, Plisetsky, socializes with the others more than you."

"You call him little, but he's still taller than you."

"Everyone's taller than me. He's still objectively small, and that's not the point."

"They are my competitors."

"Deng Senyue was mine."

"What is the point of forming bonds with people?" he asked. "When they're simply going to break them and bring you pain?"

I rolled my eyes. Here comes the melodrama. "Georgi, she left you. It clearly wasn't meant to be. You need to move on."

"How? There is no one like my precious Anya. We're meant to be. She just can't see it. She's blinded by-"

I had never liked Anya. There was just something about her that bugged me. She wasn't right for Georgi, but he was in love with her, so I bit my tongue. If Gerogi was happy, so was I. When she had left him, I was somewhat relieved, but at the same time I couldn't help but be angry at her for hurting Georgi.

Now I hated her. She hurt him, broke his heart, and he still loved her. Why? Leaving someone was one thing, but leaving because you had already found someone else was another. She should've broken up with him, when she realized that it wasn't going to work, not when she was sure she had something better.

She had strung him along, before finally letting him go, and he still wanted her. He would take her back in a second if given a chance. It irritated me, and it wasn't healthy for him.

"Georgi, there are tons of girls out there, one's that are much better than Anya. You need to move on. This delusion that you're trying to live in, the one where we're going to get back together and live happily ever after, isn't going to happen, and it isn't healthy."

"It's not a delusion, and I'm perfectly fine."

"She's engaged to someone else!" I snapped. "I watched you cry on the ice. I watched you start yelling on the ice."

"I felt the piece-"

"That wasn't you conveying emotion. That was you being consumed by it."

"You don't know what it feels like to love someone who doesn't love you!"

It was almost a step forward. He admitted that she didn't love him. He didn't try disguise it as her being blinded or tricked. She just didn't love him.

"Yeah, Georgi, I do," I said. "I know exactly how it feels. I've been in love with the same guy since I was old enough to understand what being in love with someone felt like, and at no point has he ever loved me in return. Do you know what I've done about it? I've accepted it, because I want him to be happy. I have remained content with the role I do play in his life, and I myself have tried to move on, because I know that one day I will find someone, who make me forget how much I love you, someone who loves me."

Georgi just looked at me both surprised and abashed. "Katya-"

"Yueyue says they have really good dumplings here. Let me know. I have an early flight," I said, getting up leaving.


End file.
